Abu Momtaz Ziad Uddin Ahmed, chairman of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), has said that if road accidents cannot be prevented, the country’s efforts to develop skilled human resources will be hampered.
He was speaking as chief guest at a cheque handover ceremony organized to distribute financial compensation from the BRTA Trustee Board to families of people killed in road crashes in Khulna and Bagerhat districts, held on Saturday morning at the Khulna Circuit House.
He said, “Some 32 percent of those killed or injured in road accidents in the country are young people aged between 5 and 29. They represent the nation’s promising future. But due to deaths on the roads, we are losing that potential.”
The event was presided over by Khulna Additional District Magistrate Dipongkor Das and conducted by BRTA Khulna Divisional Director Md Ziaur Rahman.
Also present were BRTA Deputy Director (Engineering) Tanvir Ahmed, Khulna BRTA Assistant Director (Engineering) Usman Sarwar Alam, Bagerhat Assistant Director (Engineering) Laylatul Mawa, Motor Vehicle Inspector Md Saiful Islam and many others.
Speakers included Khulna District Motor Bus Owners’ Association General Secretary Robiul Islam, Joint Secretary Babul Hossain, Yasin Molla and Khulna Motor Workers’ Union President Zahid Khan. On behalf of the families of victims, Fazlul Hoque Moni also spoke.
At the programme, cheques worth Tk 5 lakh each in financial compensation were handed over to Sanjida Yasmin Setu and Mosammat Aklima, wives of two people killed in road crashes in Khulna, and to Rikta Parvin and Monowara Begum from Bagerhat.
